Calcutta will inaugurate this Saturday what local authorities describe as the world’s tallest statue dedicated to Leo Messian iron structure of 70 feet or more than 20 meters, built by a sports club in the city, coinciding with the arrival of the Argentine footballer to India. The work, located in the Lake Town neighborhood, represents Messi lifting the World Cup and, according to the authors, it was completed in approximately 40 days, with the final finishing work still underway.
The inauguration will mark the beginning of the Argentine player’s visit to India, within the framework of the ‘GOAT Tour’, with which Messi will tour some of the country’s main cities for three days: first Calcutta, and then Hyderabad, Bombay and New Delhi.
The statue of Messi, the tallest dedicated to the Argentine star
West Bengal Minister Sujit Bose, who is also president of the organizing club, noted that there is no other statue dedicated to the player of comparable dimensions. Bose recalled that the same club has previously paid tributes to football figures who visited Calcutta, such as Diego Maradona, Ronaldinho and the Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. “This is a 70-foot statue. There is no other statue of Messi as big. We built it in 40 days,” Bose told local media.
The organizers explained that the inauguration will take place virtually, since Messi will not be able to travel to the place for reasons of security and public order, although his arrival in the city is planned as part of his visit to the country. The local club that organized its construction, the Sree Bhumi Sporting Club, assured that the tribute seeks to recognize the wide base of followers that the player maintains in West Bengal, a region with a deep-rooted football tradition.
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Support for Messi in the region is a consolidated phenomenon in Bengal – both on the Indian side and in Bangladesh -, where Argentine football and the figure of the striker reach high levels of popularity and his matches usually attract a large number of fans.
During the tour, Messi will inaugurate the statue and a mural dedicated to his figure in Calcutta, play a celebrity match in Hyderabad, attend a charity event in Bombay and hold meetings with authorities and young footballers in different cities, according to the preliminary program released by the organization.
